It takes its name from William Gore, the provost marshal in colonial Sydney,[1] who had a property of 150 acres (0.61 km2) in the area.

It is best known for being where the Gore Hill Freeway from Lane Cove to the Sydney Harbour Bridge starts and ends and as the location of the ABC's Sydney televisiontransmission tower, which is about 170 metres high. For more than 40 years Gore Hill was probably best known as the location of the ABC's Sydney television studios which were established in 1956 and which operated until 2002, when the site was closed and sold, and the ABC moved its television operations to its combined TV-radio studio facility in Ultimo.

Bricks were first made at Gore Hill in 1828 and continued until 1954. A siding was constructed from the North Shore Railway to a brickworks operated by the North Sydney Brick and Tile Company in 1902. Horses hauled open 4-wheel goods wagons over the line. Soon after 1910, the line was extended through a tunnel under Reserve Road. Though blocked from public access, this tunnel remains and forms part of Austcorp's Winevault complex.[3]